Coop blushed a little, pleased with the compliment. He really was ridiculously soft and sweet when he let himself be. This wasn't atough guy here; this was a guy who liked being called adorable.
"I should shower?" It was a question.
"You showered last night after we..." Jimmy made a finger-through-a-hole gesture for sex, which made Coop blush again and look rather proud of himself. "But it's up to you, of course." He gave his boyfriend a kiss. "I'm going to drive you over, we'll have breakfast, and then I'll go towork. If you want to come back here, or to your apartment, Mom or my cousin will drive you."
"Your cousin? Which one?" Coop sipped his coffee cautiously, watching Jimmy move about the room, getting dressed for work.
"Karen. I trust her driving skills."
"Is this your audition day?"
"No, they pushed it back another day. Fine with me. More time to memorize the lines." Jimmy grinned;the lines were well-memorized already. It had taken him a few minutes to commit them to memory.
"I'll be rooting for you."
"I know." Jimmy gave him another kiss.
Coop put down his mug and held his hands up for Jimmy to help him to his feet. Another kiss. "I'll get dressed." He gave Jimmy his soft-eyed look, the really affectionate one that conveyed so much. He really knew how to usehis eyes. "But just to be clear, I'm agreeing tobreakfast."
"Okay," Jimmy agreed readily.
But Coop didn't insist on taking his own car, which he would have done if he'd really meant to stay only for breakfast. On some level, he wanted to be "stuck" with the pack and let them take care of him. Maybe he knew he shouldn't be alone yet.
Jimmy was starting to realize that Coop actually didn'tmind if he took charge a little bit. That was a relief, because he felt a compulsion to take care of Coop, especially when he was so fragile.
The drive led away from town to a more rural area that ended in a single-lane road in need of repaving. Trees lined it, filled with birds screaming their morning territorial songs. The car crunched down a long driveway to the farmhouse.
Jimmy breatheddeeply of the fresh-smelling air. It felt good to be on pack land, even if it was only for breakfast, and he was proud to be bringing Cooper with him, this time as his boyfriend. He trusted his pack to look after Coop today.
Well, most of his pack.
Mom and Dad, at least.
"Don't let my brothers talk you into doing anything," he said to Coop as he parked.
"Why? What would they talkme into?" Coop's eyes got bigger.
"Hijinks, nonsense, tomfoolery." Jimmy shrugged.
Coop tried not to look worried.
"It'll be fine. Mom will look after you." His brothers had better behave themselves.
The family farm lay spread out in pastoral beauty in the light of sunrise. It was going to be a gorgeous day, and part of Jimmy wanted to quit his job, move back home, and spend the dayalternately helping out on the farm and sneaking off to go skinny-dipping and get into trouble. But he'd chosen a different path.
"You'll like it here, I promise," he told Coop, sounding more emotional than he'd meant to.
"I'm sure I will." Coop sounded nervous and polite, not quite truthful.
Jimmy smiled at him and clapped him on the shoulder. "Let's eat."
Inside, Mom hugged him, thenturned to hug Coop, hesitating only for a moment as she got a good look at him. She nearly hid her shock, and then she did hug him, much more gingerly than she'd hugged Jimmy, as if Coop was fragile and breakable. Jimmy wasn't the only one who saw it.
Two of his cousins were cooking today, and one of them rang the cowbell that brought his brothers charging in from the barn, all clattering bootsand rowdy jostling. One of them shoved him in the middle of the back in passing—a perfectly natural, brotherly act—but caught himself in time before he could do the same to Coop. Good. Jimmy narrowed his eyes at Luke anyway, a subtle warning.
"Let's eat!" That was Mike, looming over the table and stabbing pancakes.
"Don't you take all the food," Jimmy warned, rushing over to jostle forhis share. "Some of us have to get to work."
